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Do You Mean It?
Last Updated:
2024-12-19 14:08:08Related chapters
She's No Beauty Queen Don't Mind Me
Mark had heavily debated whether or not to get Lily a present at all but was very glad he did because she seemed much less reserved with him after that day. She even added him on Facebook and Instagram.Most of her posts on the former were shared from pages she followed and consisted of memes and social justice/environmental awareness articles. She didn’t make personal posts very often and if she did, they were about funny things that happened with her friends or family.Her Instagram consisted almost solely of pictures with them. Randi, who he had met at the bowling alley, showed up most frequently. If he had to guess, she was Lily’s best friend.As time went on, he noticed that she posted a lot of pictures with Angelina and Aria as well. His boss’s wife seemed much happier in those than she had in her old publicity photos. Good for her.Good for him too. Edward had practically been on cloud nine the past few months. It was a relief that he finally snapped out of his mood swings. Thi
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen Gee, Thanks
Mark sat there mentally berating himself for being weak and falling prey to the worst possible emotion until Edward finished his call and came back in. He wasn’t at all fazed seeing his assistant there.“What do you need, Mark?”“You have more paperwork to fill out and we have a meeting across town in thirty minutes,” he informed him.Edward sighed. “I forgot about that. People have been calling me all morning about an unrelated property so it slipped my mind. If you drive, I can fill out the paperwork in the car but I need to go get dressed first. Angel, I’m going to be gone for a few hours.”Angelina looked up from what she was working on and gestured for him to come closer. “Alright. See you later.”He walked over to where she was sitting and bent down to briefly kiss her with a soft smile on his face. “Yep. Good luck with your paper.”“Thanks, I’ll need it!”Mark wasn’t even surprised at this point. He knew Edward was wrapped around his wife’s finger and that she had been extremel
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen I Don't Want To Hear That From You!
Edward had never spoken to Mark this bluntly before but he supposed it wasn’t entirely unwarranted. When Angel was missing, they established that they were each other’s only friend and they had seen each other several times outside of a work setting since.It seemed that his boss had momentarily abandoned his role as a superior and was functioning solely as a friend to talk about Mark’s nonexistent love life. And give him a hard time about it, apparently.Lily was his friend now too and Angel was Edward’s but they were still the only solid male friend the other had. This conversation wasn’t entirely unwarranted though it was strange that it was happening during work hours. They were both normally much more professional than that.At least Angel wasn’t haunting her husband’s office like usual. She was in the middle of one of her online lectures in another room.Though based on the way he had been talking, she at least suspected Mark had feelings for Lily already. Was he truly that tran
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen An Unexpected Source
Lily hadn’t expected things to change so much after Mark gave her a birthday present and told her to tell him random facts whenever she thought of them but that somehow lowered her inhibitions around him. It started slowly by talking to him about more than skateboarding but worked its way up over time. She wasn’t sure how it happened but he became one of her closest friends.It was incredibly ironic that she had started out disliking him only to end up here. He had slowly but surely worn her down by being nice and easy to talk to until he was almost on par with Randi.She wasn’t close with very many people. Most of the time, she preferred talking about superficial things than what was actually on her mind, even with the people she loved.Mark was different. He was such a good listener that he tended to draw her worries out of her. She was able to talk about things with him that she didn’t with anyone aside from her mother, who had a similar ability. She hadn’t thought she would be abl
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen He Did?
Lily was lost in thought for a little while until she realized her brother was asking her something. “So, Lily, I hear you’re dating someone. Why am I the last person to know?”Donovan’s tone was casual but his expression was slightly hurt. He was normally one of the most easy-going people she knew so it was weird seeing him upset in any capacity. It hit her a moment later what he actually said and she was quick to deny it.“I am not! Who told you that?!”“Mom, Dad, Gen, your social media accounts…you’re constantly tagging him in things. It’s pretty obvious.”Hang on, was he talking about Mark?! They weren’t dating! “Are you all completely crazy?! I’m not dating him! We’re friends. Friends.”“Would you really invite a friend to Thanksgiving? You’ve never done that before,” Donovan said skeptically.Lily huffed in frustration. “Because all of my other friends always had plans to go home or eat with other people. He wasn’t doing anything and I felt sorry for him, that’s all! He’s friend
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen Hmm
Lily must have given Mark some sort of pep talk but why would she do that if she didn’t really know him? Or give him Donovan’s old P.E. clothes? None of this was adding up. She had always been too nosy for her own good but didn’t get involved with strangers unless they obviously needed help.A thought struck her. Hadn’t he said something about noticing when she got into a fight defending a nonverbal autistic girl and asked if it was because of Adam?He also claimed she was ‘reckless as always’ when she volunteered to be bait. That implied remembering more than one fight. Why would he pay attention to all the fights she got in? Most of them weren’t even during P.E.Was it possible that she had gotten into a fight defending him too? That would certainly make someone pay attention to what someone else was doing. But if so, why hadn’t he said anything?She tried remembering everything Mark said about knowing her in high school but there wasn’t much to work with. She had been confused that
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen He Doesn't Like Me
Mark had put in a lot of time and effort to get Lily to change her opinion of him because it mattered to him that much. All because of saying something she completely forgot about that inspired him to go to college?There was no denying he was rather successful for his age. He got a (no doubt high-paying) job straight out of college with one of the most well-known people in the area. Now she found out that wouldn’t have happened if not for whatever she did.If he truly had struggled financially for most of his childhood, his dedication to his job was easily explainable. He didn’t want to end up like that again.Lily had horribly misjudged him. He wasn’t a chameleon by choice; it was a defense mechanism. When he said she would think even worse of him for knowing what he did actually care about, it was probably because he thought she would accuse him of being materialistic.Her heart ached. She had been terrible to him considering how much he had looked up to her when he was having a ha
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen I'm Doomed
Randi looked across the table at her best friend curiously. “Why not?”Lily had a million reasons why not but she was having a hard time putting them into words. “I already told you the last time you asked me this. I thought you dropped it.”“That was before you two started spending a lot more time together. Can you honestly say you don’t respect him anymore? I know that was one of your big hang-ups about the whole thing but you wouldn’t put this much effort into someone you don’t respect.”“No,” she admitted begrudgingly. Her recent revelations about what happened between them in high school had changed that. “But he’s still too different from me and he would never like me because he doesn’t do attachments.”“Disregarding the last part, how are you too different?” Randi asked skeptically.“He doesn’t have an ounce of passion in his entire body. I could never be with someone like that. We want completely different things out of life too. Liking him would be pointless.”“Doesn’t mean y
Last Updated : 2024-12-19
Latest chapter
She's No Beauty Queen Incredibly Grateful
Lily and Mark had a small simple wedding at a garden venue. Angel convinced her to let her apply light makeup for the occasion with the rationalization that she would only be getting married once. It did make her stand out in the pictures so she supposed that was something.All of their friends and her family were there to support them. Aria was the most adorable flower girl ever and her nephew Hunter was the ring bearer. Angel was the matron of honor and Randi and Genevieve were her other bridesmaids. Mark’s best man was Eddie and two of his bowling friends rounded out the wedding party.They went on their honeymoon to Hawaii where they took another submarine tour and hiked what felt like every inch of the island of Maui. Lily was happy but exhausted by the time they got home.Despite experiencing a major life event, not much changed in terms of work or their general schedules for another year when she got pregnant with their son Damien. Her job was kind enough to let her take a year-
She's No Beauty Queen I Thought You Would Never Ask!
Lily inhaled deeply and let the smell of the salty air soak into her soul. It was impossible to worry about anything right now when she was this relaxed.“You certainly seem happy,” Mark noted with a smile as they bobbed in the water.“I am. No one ever wants to go swimming with me. Thanks, Mark. Today has been wonderful and it’s not even over yet. You spoil me too much.”“There’s nothing wrong with a little spoiling.”Lily knew it was pointless arguing with him so she let it go and closed her eyes as she floated there. The ocean was oddly tranquil today. There were hardly any waves at all, which was perfect for swimming.She wasn’t sure how long they stayed in the water like that enjoying the quiet and each other’s company but, eventually, they headed back to shore. He read a book on a towel while she took a nap and let the sun soak into her soul.When she woke up, she felt more at peace than she had in ages. Her boyfriend had planned the perfect day for her. At times like this, it w
She's No Beauty Queen That Wasn't Like Her
Lily’s ongoing struggle trying to be okay with Mark not wanting to move forward in their relationship became more difficult as time went on. On the rare occasions she tried to bring it up, he would quickly change the subject so she gave up after a while.That wasn’t like her. She was so frustrated she was ready to blow a gasket but didn’t want them to fight.So she ambled along expecting nothing knowing that was all she was going to get. It didn’t help that Angel was pregnant with her second child and very excited about the fact. She would be having a boy this time and she and Eddie had already decided to name him Eli.Aria had hoped for a sister but was still looking forward to having a baby to play with even if it was a boy. She was a good kid and Lily had no doubt she would be a great big sister.As much as she looked forward to meeting her new nephew, it got her wondering if she would ever be able to have a child of her own. Her twenty-fifth birthday passed recently and Mark still
She's No Beauty Queen An Irreplacable Existence
Patience wasn’t Lily’s strong suit. Mark hoped Donovan got back to her quickly because he didn’t want to prolong this more than necessary. Mark didn’t want to ruin the surprise either though. If she knew what he was planning in advance, she might get suspicious.Thankfully, Donovan’s family was available two weeks from then. And so were two spots for what Mark was planning to take Lily to do. He booked the tickets immediately so now all he could do was wait.He already knew his girlfriend would accept his proposal but he was still anxious. Who wouldn’t be asking such a loaded question to the person that mattered to them most?At least she didn’t seem to have caught on yet. She chatted normally on their longer-than-expected drive down to L.A. due to traffic. They didn’t arrive until nearly 2 AM so it was a good thing Eileen told them where the spare key was kept in advance so they could let themselves in.An air mattress had already been set up for them. All they had to do was flop ont
She's No Beauty Queen Alright Then, Be Mysterious
Talking to Angelina about her seizure frequency being pregnant only made Mark feel worse because he knew Lily wanted multiple kids. She would be putting herself at risk more than once and he wasn’t sure he would be able to live with the anxiety. As it was, he wasn’t sure how Edward was able to do it.Maybe that was who he needed to talk to in order to ease his fears. Someone who had been in the position he would potentially find himself in twice.Mark knew that it wasn’t fair to leave Lily hanging forever. He wanted to spend his life with her, he truly did, but he needed to get his fears under control first.“How do you handle knowing your wife could have a seizure any time?” he blurted when he and Edward were in the car on their way to a meeting the day after his conversation with Angelina.He didn’t seem terribly surprised by the question. It seemed that she had told him what they talked about yesterday. “I don’t know. I guess I’m used to it by now. She did have one within five minu
She's No Beauty Queen Her Heart On Her Sleeve
They exchanged numbers and Angelina excused herself to get back to work. She should be able to focus now that she had gotten a bit of a break. It was nice knowing that at least one of her former associates was doing well these days. She hoped they were all able to find things that made them happy the way she had.Mark didn’t even look up when she came back in. He was that focused on his work. She wasn’t able to catch his attention at all until she called his name three times after finishing what she needed.“Sorry, I was in the zone. Are you ready to go?” he asked sheepishly.“Yeah. Thanks for sticking around.”Angelina felt a bit guilty to be inconveniencing him like this but at least he already knew Eddie was a worrywart when it came to her. That was why he wasn’t letting her drive on her own.He didn’t say anything until they were nearly back at her house. “Hey…um…do you always have seizures when you’re pregnant?”That was completely out of the blue. Why would he ask about that?“T
She's No Beauty Queen Small World, Isn't It?
Over time, Taylored’s customer base did grow, if not as quickly as the owners wanted it to. Genevieve and Lita got a huge order to make costumes for a local theater company’s production of The Music Man and that kept them pretty busy for a while but that wasn’t the only big thing happening.After a few months of actively trying, Angelina found herself pregnant again. It was a much happier experience this time and everyone was excited about it. Particularly Aria. She was thrilled at the prospect of having a little brother or sister because a lot of her friends had them.She asked a million and one questions about what she dubbed “our baby.” It was adorable.Though her emotional state was much better, things weren’t too different physically than they had been with Aria because she had to change her medication again and that took getting used to. At least she was planning on it in advance this time and did it before getting pregnant rather than after.She was fairly miserable but hated b
She's No Beauty Queen Me Too
Angelina had been rather busy preparing herself for the grand opening of their shop Taylored and didn’t notice her twin’s distress. Lita’s son was named Taylor so it was a sort of play on his name and the fact that they were tailors on top of designing custom clothes.By the time Genevieve graduated, everything was just about ready to go. Their grand opening was the week after and they had already gotten an impressive amount of advertising done so there should be a decent turnout. It didn’t hurt that they had a great location where they should get a lot of traffic.Having a real estate mogul for a husband could be surprisingly helpful. Before this, she never thought she would utilize his skills for finding great locations.Angelina went to the grand opening for a while since Aria was playing with Emma. Preschool was out for the summer and she missed her friends already. She was such a social little thing.She thought it went pretty well, all things considered. A lot of people came in
She's No Beauty Queen You Know I Thrive On Chaos
Genevieve caught a real break when Angel met Lita. She never would have suggested going into business otherwise but the three of them got on like a house on fire.Lily had been surprised to say the least and asked her twin about it. She smiled softly as she explained that all she ever wanted was to make a difference for people like her and this gave her the chance to do so without taking her away from her family for long stretches of time unlike her original dream.She certainly seemed excited about it. Talking about her potential business venture made her much more enthusiastic than usual. It was cute.Angel had made her own friends too in the various clubs and classes she had joined trying to figure out what she wanted to do so she joined Lily’s friends maybe once a month these days. Lily was happy for her. She deserved to have a life of her own after living someone else’s dreams for so long.Lily looked forward to seeing where this clothing business went. She had already commission
